Martin FröstClarinet / BBT
Award Winner
2003

The most important aspect of this unique award is of course that it offers me as a performer the freedom to invest a very generous sum of money into my career in ways that I find most creative and constructive. With the support, the know-how and the contacts of the Artistic Committee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust it will be possible for me to use my award to achieve some of the high artistic goals I have set for myself. I am very grateful and excited about the possibilities that lie ahead!

Martin Fröst"

Martin Fröst was supported by Borletti-Buitoni Trust between 2003 and 2006. This page was last updated in 2013. For an up to date biography please visit www.harrisonparrott.com

One of a small handful of truly international wind players, Martin Fröst’s repertoire encompasses mainstream clarinet works as well as a number of contemporary commissions, that he has personally championed, including Anders Hillborg’s Peacock Tales (incorporating elements of mine and dance), Kalevi Aho’s Concerto (commissioned for him by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust) and Rolf Martinsson’s Concert Fantastique. This season he has premiered a new concerto by Bent Sørensen with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Cologne's Philharmonie under Michael Schønwandt. Having made his debut at New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival (performing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto under the direction of Louis Langrée) this summer, Martin’s future highlights include debuts with Washington's National Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber and Detroit Symphony orchestras, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (with Giovanni Antonini), Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Royal Concertgebouw Orchester, Bamberger Symphoniker and NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover plus return visits to the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Luzerner Sinfonieorchester. He also returns to the Australian Chamber Orchestra following a substantial tour of Europe with them last season, and embarks on a major European tour with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta performing Weber and Copland in May 2013. Martin Fröst was amongst the first artists to receive a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award winners in 2003.

Photographs by Mats Bäcker, Simon Weir

BBT Project: Kalevi Aho Clarinet Concerto, commissioned by BBT.

"At all extremes Aho calls not just for techincal prowess but musical character and intelligence - the ideal challenge. Fröst rose to it brilliantly..."Financial Times April 2006

"An atmospheric piece, it moves from a tempestuous opening via achingly beautiful solo passages and a vibrant scherzo to a dazzling, multi-phonic coda. The perfect showcase for the remarkable skills of the Swedish soloist Martin Fröst..."The Observer April 2006

Kalevi Aho: Clarinet Concerto

"Intensely lyrical, thematically memorable, and beautifully scored, this piece easily should find a home in concert halls throughout the world." (David Hurwitz, Classics Today). Kalevi Aho’s concerto was commissioned by BBT for Martin Fröst. A film about their collaboration is also available on this website.

Martin Fröst: Schumann Showcase - BBC Music Magazine

Schumann:Fantasiestücke (I Zart und mit Ansdruck)

Schumann:Fantasiestücke (II Lebhaft, leicht)

Schumann:Fantasiestücke (III Rasch und mit Feuer)

This showcase CD of music by Schumann featuring BBT 2003 Award Winners Emma Bell, Jonathan Biss, Martin Fröst and Jerusalem Quartet, was published with BBC Music Magazine to coincide with BBT’s 2004 tour with Mitsuko Uchida.

STRUTTING THE WALK...

Martin Fröst performs Hillborg Clarinet Concerto Peacock Tales

Anders Hillborg’s clarinet concerto, Peacock Tales, is truly unique, demanding the soloist not only to play but to dance and mime, with mask. Commissioned by Swedish Radio Orchestra (who also perform in this film version under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen), the work was dedicated to Martin Fröst. It is hard to imagine any other clarinettist able to perform it.

...AND TALKING THE TALK

Martin Fröst and Kalevi Aho on creating a new clarinet concerto

BBT profiles Kalevi Aho and Martin Fröst. Produced in 2004, before a note of Kalevi Aho’s clarinet concerto was written, our film shows two distinctive characters about to embark on an unknown journey towards a major new work. We filmed in London at Wigmore Hall, BBC Maida Vale and City Hall, with archive footage courtesy of MTV3 Finland and Sveriges Television (SVT). Aho’s clarinet concerto was co-commissioned for Martin Fröst by Borletti-Buitoni Trust and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.